Chained to a tree

[Stephen Whiteside]

Steve Meacher


Hello forest protectors,

You have probably heard by now that VicForests effectively 'won' the case against them today, and that is true, as far as it goes.

But it's not the whole truth.

The fact is, they can only continue to log in the Toolangi coupes in accordance with the much reduced proposal that they committed to during the case. So a large proportion of the three coupes, we would argue most of Freddo and South Col, will have to be excluded. Without the case those three coupes would have been entirely clear-felled.

Today's result may not be what we have hoped for, but not to have run the case would have been far worse for our forests.

We shall be continuing the fight to ensure that the prescriptions that have now been clarified and confirmed are not ignored but fully applied in all future logging; most particularly in the 198 coupes (later reduced to 168) that VicForests identified as being similar in character, due to containing, or being close to, LbP habitat.

The greatest disappointment is that the judge found that the Leadbeater's Possum Action Statement does not operate independently of the Forest Management Plan. This dramatically exposes the total inadequacy of state legislation to protect threatened species. State law is designed to facilitate logging of native forests despite the potential presence of threatened species.

The big positive is that the judge called for an urgent review of the zoning system that is supposed to protect Leadbeater's habitat, to take account of the effects of the 2009 fires.

It's going to take some time to work through and fully understand the 110 pages of reasons for the judgement. So we will send out some more information as we digest the decision.

But, for now, I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to Sarah and My Environment. It would take no courage at all to undertake such a case if you knew all along you were going to win. The essence of bravery is to acknowledge the risk and have the moral backbone to go ahead anyway.

Congratulations and thank you, Sarah and My Environment.

For the forests,

Steve

p.s. Maps and schedules of new proposed changes to the TRP are went on the VicForests website today - http://www.vicforests.com.au/ch-trp.htm

There are 22 new coupes in Toolangi SF, half of which are clearfell or seed-tree.

We have a month to make submissions. Time to get writing!

[Dave Smith]

Unfortunatly the mighty dollar will count most in the end, you can have a 100 victorys but you only get to lose once.

Dave.

[Stephen Whiteside]

Steve Meacher.



Good morning all,

Justice Osborn has announced his decision on costs in My Environment -v- VicForests.

He has awarded costs against My Environment, but not on the higher scale (indemnity).

We don't yet know how much this will be but can safely say it is a very substantial amount of money.

In announcing his decision, Justice Osborn made a number of observations, mostly in regard to his reasons for not awarding VicForests the higher scale.

* The proceedings were brought in good faith for the purpose of seeking to protect and conserve the habitat of an endangered species, the Leadbeater's Possum.
* The Proceedings are fairly characterised as having been pursued in the public interest.
* The case brought about a material refinement of Vicforests' timber harvesting proposal with respect to Gun Barrel [coupe].
* The case raises questions of the construction of subsidiary legislation intended to protect the LBP, which apply not only to the three coupes in question but to the timber harvesting of regrowth montane ash forests within the Central Highlands generally.
* On the question of whether the words 'mature and senescing' should be construed cumulatively or as alternatives, My Environment was successful.
* My Environment has no motive of private gain.
* The interpretation of the provisions at issue has particular practical significance, and is of general public importance, because of the destruction and damage to large parts of the montane ash forests in the Central Highlands by the 2009 Black Saturday Fires.
* The construction of the legislation is not free from difficulty and falls to be interpreted within a series of overlapping complex and labyrinthine controls.

Given all the above you may wonder why he awarded costs against My Environment. In short, the reasons were that VicForests was overwhelmingly successful in its defence and that its offer of settlement (27th January 2012) was entirely reasonable.

Finally, Justice Osborn removed the interlocutory injunction but granted a further limited restraint of timber harvesting within Gun Barrel for 14 days, in order to protect such appeal rights as My Environment may have.

Regards to all,

For our increasingly fragile forests,

Steve